Leave No Trace!

This document is a work in progress.   If you have suggestions for changes, additions, or text to flesh out this outline, please send us your comments!

love,
the mezbians

Here at Burning Man, we take our cleaning seriously, so you don't have to!   In fact, the best way to clean is to make it fun.  In that vein we present this guide to you, the Black Rock City citizen, to help you understand what it takes to keep our city clean and dandy, and leave the playa as barren and lifeless as it was when we found it.

Think Ahead!

Keep it Clean!

Leave No Trace!

Have Fun!

Think Ahead!

You spend days, weeks, months planning your theme camp, your art bike, your killer costumes, the groovy tunes you're gonna bring.  Excellent.  Now spend a little of that noodlin' on the subject of keeping it clean.

What to Expect:

1. Everything you bring with you, you must take back home.  This might sound like a no-brainer, but think about it beforehand.  Bring a bucket with a tight-fitting lid for stinky garbage.  Bring a small container with a lid for ashes and cigarette butts.  

2. Everything you bring will expand once it's been unpacked and hurriedly packed back into your vehicle at the end of the week.

3. If you run a theme camp, you will end up with other people's trash.  And once they've left it at your camp, it's your responsibility to bring it back to civilization!

   • Corollary: The bigger your camp, the more of other people's trash you'll end up with.

4. If you create a fire, you will need to stick around for at least 2 more days to clean it up.

   Despite this, cleanup can be fun!  The key is a good attitude, lots of fun and games, and involving people - both in and out of your camp and neighborhood.  

What to Bring:

1. Sealable Trash Cans.  You need more trash cans than you think!  If your camp has a kitchen, a hang-out area, and a tent area, you will need at least 3 large, sealable trash cans.

2. Heavy Duty Trash Bags.  Extra heavy duty.  Lots of 'em.  And make sure they fit your trash cans.

3. Carpet.  A non-shag carpet is a great way to make your camp more civilized, and to stop trash from falling on the playa.

4. Personal Trash Container.  As you wander the playa, you'll need something to put personal trash (or potential trash) in.  Suggestions:  A spare zipper pocket on your camel back; a small bag attached to your bike, or a large ziplock bag to stash in your backpack.  

5. Sealable Ash Tray.  The playa is a no-butt, no-ash zone. If you're going to smoke, take something with you that you can use as an ash tray, and that won't allow ashes to spread.  A small peppermint tin works fabulously.  So does a film canister.  Even if you don't smoke, your visitors may.  Provide them with a spacious, clearly labeled sealable ash tray.

6. Camp Cleanup Tools.  

   1. A broom and dust pan if you have a carpet.

   2. Gloves, sponges, and plastic bin for washing dishes.

   3. Cheesecloth for straining dirty water.

   4. Vice grips or other tool for pulling up tent stakes and rebar.

   5. Trash poking sticks.  To spear paper trash as it flies by.

   6. A vacuum, if you have a carpet and electricity.

   7. Vacuum bags.

7. Fire Cleanup Tools.  Burning things does not dispose of them.  If you create a fire be prepared to clean it up with the following:

   1. A shovel, for shoveling ash.

   2. A large magnet for picking up metal bits from the fire.

   3. A rake for breaking and turning over the ground to heal the burn scar.

   4. A burn blanket or corrugated metal can help minimize the burn scar and make fire cleanup easier.

8. Cleanup Games & Costumes.  Plan to make cleanup fun!  Bring things to turn keeping your camp clean into a game that everyone will want to play.  Some ideas:

   1. French Maid Outfits

   2. Construction / Cleanup jumpsuits

   3. Leashes and collars

   4. Bullhorn

   5. Bullwhip

What Not to Bring

Some things are just more trouble than they're worth:

1. Excess Packaging.  Every piece of packaging you can remove at home is a piece of trash you don't have to haul back from the playa.

2. Costume or Construction Materials that Turn into Litter.  Some materials used in costumes or in decorating your camp have a huge potential to create litter.  The best way to determine whether or not you're going to create litter is to take that costume or decoration and shake it vigorously for a minute or so.  If feathers, tinsel, or other things come off, you've got a little factory.   Some materials to worry about:

   1. Poorly attached feathers

   2. Tinsel

   3. Poorly attached streamers

   4. Glued-on Sequins 

3. Paper Signs or Handouts.  Citizens of black-rock city are often pocket-deprived.  If you hand a naked person a flyer, there's a very good chance that flyer will become litter.  If you leave your stack of flyers sitting in the open for an hour, there's a good chance the entire stack will become litter.
   

4. Food that Will Stink.  You really don't want to drive all the way back to civilization with a car full of stinky trash.  Go heavy on water, fruits, and non-perishables.  Think twice about lots of meat or anything that will spoil or become moldy. 

Other Preparations

1. Prepare as much food in advance as possible.  Carving up that whole chicken on the playa results in bones you have to throw away.  Plus, you're really not going to want to go to that much effort once you're in the desert.  Do yourself a favor and have as much stuff prepared in advance as you can.

2. If you have an RV, empty the sewage tank before leaving civilization.   Gauges are not accurate, so no matter what the gauge says, take it to someone who will pump out your tank.

1. Never Let it Hit the Ground!  Throw things away immediately, and you won't have to worry about coming back to clean it up later.  Nor will you have to worry about it blowing away into someone else's camp!

2. Never Leave Loose Stuff Around!  The wind can wreak havoc on the city, and anything that can blow away in your camp, will.   Two good examples of things you never thought would blow away, but did:

   1. 6' diameter mirrors, lying flat on the playa.  They flew for hundreds of feet and could easily have decapitated someone.  

   2. Porta-potties (okay, they were only blown over.  Still, you get the point - big wind.)
      .

3. Create a Daily Cleanup Ritual.  Cleanup can be fun!  Make a game every day out of cleaning up your camp.  Dress up in those French maid outfits.  Bring out the bullwhip and whip your slaves into action.  Or compete to see who can clean up the most.  Not only does this make cleanup easier, but you'll be happier with your camp during the week.

4. Take Pride in your Neighborhood.  Get to know your neighbors.  Make cleanup a shared priority.  Invite them over for your fun and games.  Keep in mind that whatever mess you leave behind, your neighbors may get stuck with.  And who'd want to do that to other cool burningman folk?

1. Never Let it Hit the Ground!  If you create trash, take it back to your camp with you.  Make sure you have something on your person you can use to gather any trash you make.

2. Pick up any trash you see.  It may not have been yours before, but it is now! :)  Take it back to your camp, please, and throw it away.

Burning Things

1. Burn Things Only on Public Burn Platforms Only - Don't burn stuff in your camp.  That's what the platforms are for.

2. If it's not yours, don't burn it.  Wow, what a cool sculpture!  I think I'll burn it down!  NOT.

3. If it's toxic, don't burn it.  Some toxic things:

   1. PVC  (gives off dioxin when burned, very very bad)

   2. Plastic

   3. Carpet

   4. Futons

   5. Couches

4. Don't Throw Glass onto a Fire.  Glass shatters into a million pieces, all of which must be picked up by hand.  So take those beer bottles and window-panes back with you to your camp, or make sure it's your own fire and you plan to stick around for extra days to clean it up.

5. If you Burn It, Clean It Up.  Cleaning up a fire will take you at least 2 days after the fire has been set.  So if you're hell bent on having a fire on Saturday night, don't  expect to leave the playa until Tuesday.  (see Leave No Trace for more details)

6. Consider a Burn Blanket to minimize burn scars and make your life easier

1. Sweep your camp for every last piece of litter.  Every feather, sequin, staple, and watermelon must be removed.  A good way to do this with a group is to lay out an imaginary grid, then sweep from one end of each section to the other with a line of people spaced every 6 feet or so.

2. Remove all tent stakes and rebar.  Yes, some of these may be driven deep into the playa, making removal a chore.  So be sure to have your vice grip handy to yank 'em out.  If you don't, they become a potential source of injury, and a sure cleanup problem for someone else.

3. Combine efforts with your neighbors!  This will give you more people and will make the whole cleanup process more fun.

4. Check your neighborhood.  What's in the streets?  What sort of mess did the camp next door leave?  Clean it up for them.  Take pride in contributing to the beauty of our city.

At the risk of repeating ourselves, we urge you to make a game or ritual out of cleanup:

1. Have any tops or bottoms in your camp?  Consider cleanup slaves, or slave masters.

2. Compete to see who can collect the most trash or sweep the biggest area.

3. Make a daily ritual out of cleaning up the camp.

4. Invite neighboring camps to participate in your shenanigans.

5. Bring lots of French maid's oufits. 

6. The more you play at cleaning during the week, the more fun the hard cleanup work will be on the weekend!